Personal Development

In Key Stage 5, PSHE takes on a new, broader title of Personal Development (PD). This is delivered in three, six-week blocks during Wednesday afternoons.

Personal development (PD) for Cambourne Sixth Form students, complemented by the assembly and tutor programme, is made up of both Life Lectures, which involve members of the sixth form team or guest speakers giving a talk, and Life Lessons, where students complete a classroom-based interactive session in their tutor groups. These are modelled on university seminars and involve discussion-based approaches as well as looking at scenarios and resources to aid their understand and development within any given area.

PD takes place on Wednesday afternoons, when there is no PD scheduled below students take part in their enrichment options such as Competitive or Recreational Sport, Cooking in Adulthood and Developing Oracy and Debate.

Block 1

Block 2

Block 3

Assessment

Students are assessed both on their engagement and understanding of the subject. We have regular knowledge checks using Microsoft Forms and in-class discussions/polls, to ensure the students understand the content and have retained the key information. Retrieval Practice is also used throughout the year to ensure that topics are not forgotten once we’ve moved on. However, our main focus is that students are engaged in their PD lessons and taking these vital life lessons on board and remembering them for the future. Here parents can support us by continuing these topical discussions at home.

Supporting your child

What you can do at home:

As with the delivery of RSHE education, we see PD in Sixth Form as a partnership between home and school, providing the opportunity for all pupils to learn about important topics in safe environments and support their journey to becoming healthy, happy, and secure adults. The most important way to support your child with their PD learning and progression is to be ready to have open and honest conversations with your child about the topics covered in the classroom. If you would like any support with this or feel nervous about how to broach certain topics, do please email for help and guidance.

There are also many excellent websites out there offering help, advice, and guidance for parenting in the 21^st century. We have included links below in the Extended Study Suggestions and Reading Lists section as a starting point. There is also an excellent section in our school library on issues covered within PD such as managing change, staying safe and healthy as an adult and emotional health and well-being.

Please note, we will offer support to parents and carers to extend their knowledge where we can, such as our annual online safety training, and are always available to answer questions and help in any way we can. Just because we have all been teenagers does not mean we are experts in raising them!

Equipment:

All students will be expected to attend their PD lessons with the core school equipment.

Extended learning

Homework policy:

Students are not set formal homework in PD. We only ask that the students go away from each lesson and are prepared to continue the discussions facilitated in lessons with their friends and their adults at home. Thinking through the issues covered and how they relate to the individual student is the ongoing aim of PD.

Extended study suggestions and reading lists:

If you would like to look further into any of the issues studied in PD, then the Internet is usually the best place to start. However, research in PD is a very personal thing and the needs of one student might be totally different to the needs of another. Below are a few websites that are more specific to the areas of interest that might come up:

NSPCC | The UK children's charity | NSPCC (excellent help with childhood issues, particularly surrounding abuse, and mistreatment.)

Sexual Health & Wellbeing - Brook – Healthy lives for young people (Brook is an amazing service that offers help and guidance for all young people on many different topics surrounding sexual health, identity, drugs, alcohol, and many others.)

Honest information about drugs | FRANK (talktofrank.com) (Focusing specifically on all issues and concerns surrounding drugs, this site is informative and helpful if you have any queries or concerns. It details all illegal drugs and explains the law relating to them, as well as side-effects and alternative names.)

YoungMinds | Mental Health Charity For Children And Young People | YoungMinds A comprehensive guide for both students and parents, this website contains lots of information pertaining to mental health and emotional well-being.

If Your Child is Aged 13 or Over - Get Safe Online (This is an excellent website about digital safety for all. I have linked specifically to the area for young adults, but there is so much useful information here for everyone.)

Teenagers | Family Lives This website has information useful to all elements of family life but this specific section is all about how to communicate and help your teenage children as they navigate through young adulthood.

Possible trips and visits:

Unfortunately, at this point, there are no specific PD trips or visits. However, the last week of the school year sees all Year 12 students take part in Work Experience, an excellent opportunity for students to put a lot of their PD learning into practice, from planning their future careers, to understanding how the world of employment functions and progresses with the help of individual workers.